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https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-09-our-world-in-pictures-week-27-of-2021/
Assange Extradition Case 'Collapsing' After Witness Admitted to Lying, Campaigner Says
The European Parliament backed a resolution on Thursday advocating reprisals against Hungary over a new law that bans the portrayal and promotion of LGBTQ lifestyles in schools. The resolution called for the country to suffer financial penalties, and encouraged EU member states to pursue Hungary through the EU’s courts. MEPs voted with 459 in favour, 147 against and 58 abstentions, and, in a series of speeches, called for a restriction on monies from the EU budget and the recently agreed Covid-19 recovery fund going to Budapest.
The European Parliament has had a rocky relationship with Hungary for a number of years. Indeed, it has never been a fan of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. During his 11-year tenure as PM, Orban has become its pantomime villain. MEPs were particularly incensed by his hardline response to the migrant crisis in 2016, not to mention his general disdain for Brussels.
Their displeasure mirrored the response of the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, who stated on Wednesday that, under Hungary’s new law, “homosexuality is equated with pornography. This legislation uses the protection of children as an excuse to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation.” Von der Leyen’s denunciations, however, fell some way short of those posited by Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, who last month said, “For me, Hungary has no place in the EU anymore.”
Now, I must say here that I do not agree with Hungary’s new law either. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about a person’s sexuality or lifestyle – live and let live is what I say. However, I wouldn’t have voted for a resolution in the European Parliament that called for both legal and financial reprisals against Hungary. And here’s why.
First, because it is none of the EU’s business. Education is not one of the EU’s competences and therefore what Hungary does in its schools is its own affair. It is certainly not the business of foreign leaders such as Rutte. We’ve seen what happens when foreign leaders stick their noses in other countries’ affairs. Take, for example, the fall-out when then-US president Barack Obama told the British people to remain in the EU,, back in 2016. The Brits did not like this interference and subsequently voted to leave. If Orban is to be punished for this policy, then let it come from his own people through the ballot box, not because of pressure from other presidents or prime ministers. He is up for re-election next year anyway.
Second, I’d argue that those leaders who denounce Hungary are unwittingly playing into Orban’s hands. I suspect he is secretly overjoyed with the reaction this law has provoked within the EU. It allows him to indulge in a siege mentality – a case of Hungary versus the world. And we know from recent experience that perceived victimhood is a very powerful weapon in politics. The actions being taken by world leaders and MEPs are only aiding Orban’s re-election campaign.
I believe this crisis represents a clash of cultures and underpins why full European integration will never work. The European Parliament is attempting to impose liberal Western morals on the more traditional ethics of the East. It’s surely no surprise that the Hungarian position has been supported by both Poland and Slovenia. Indeed, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa condemned the EU’s Western states for imposing “imaginary European values” without respecting local cultures.
In my view, it’s wrong for the EU and foreign leaders to intervene in another country’s affairs – especially when they do so with such a sense of moral superiority. It could be argued that it’s a form of neo-colonialism. A century ago, we Europeans believed Africa was home to primitive people, and it was our duty to educate them, school them in our values and our culture. These days, this would be denounced as inappropriate imperialism, but is this really any different to what the EU is now doing to Hungary? I’m not so sure.
The whole debate regarding Hungary’s new anti-LGBTQ law highlights the fact that the EU is not a homogeneous bloc but rather a collective of individual states with their own distinct identities. In its efforts to standardise their values and their culture, the EU may well unwittingly be bringing about its own eventual fragmentation.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/528739-eu-hungary-lgbtq-law/
Oorgrens veiligheid
A farm attack took place on 9 July 2021, on a farm 3 km North of Jansenville, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. An unknown number of attackers walked into a farmhouse firing off shots. The victims were held up while the home was ransacked.
The attackers were demanding firearms and money.
The attackers robbed firearms and other household items and fled the scene.
No one was injured during the invasion.
All roleplayers responded after the alarm was raised.
A follow up operation recovered a laptop, camera, ammunition, a 9mm magazine and a few other smaller items near the house.
Police are investigating but there have been no arrests. There is no other information available at this stage.
Read about more farm attacks here
Information supplied by Oorgrens veiligheid
South Africa Today – South Africa News
https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/eastern-cape/farm-attack-attackers-open-fire-inside-farmhouse-jansenville/
Oorgrens veiligheid
A farm attack took place in the early morning hours of 10 July 2021, on a farm in Vierfontein, in the Free State province of South Africa. A woman who was alone at home, as her husband was in hospital, was woken by her barking dogs. She then heard an unknown number of attackers inside the home.
The woman raised the alarm and got hold of her firearm.
As the attackers were breaking down the bedroom security gate she fired off shots through the door causing the attackers to flee.
It is unknown if any of the attackers were wounded.
The woman was not injured but has been left traumatised. Police are investigating but there have been no arrests.
There is no other information available at this stage.
Read about more farm attacks here
Information supplied by Oorgrens veiligheid
South Africa Today – South Africa News
https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/free-state/farm-attack-woman-opens-fire-through-bedroom-door-vierfontein/
NEW DELHI—As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) celebrated its 100 year anniversary on July 1, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke of the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and the “rise of the east.” These agendas that the Chinese are likely to relentlessly pursue will have a direct impact on India, the country next door with whom the PLA has been engaged in a fierce confrontation since last year, said an Indian analyst.
“All the struggle, sacrifice, and creation through which the Party has united and led the Chinese people over the past hundred years has been tied together by one ultimate theme—bringing about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” boasted Xi in a speech that repeated “rejuvenation” at least 24 times.
Namrata Hasija, a Research Fellow with the New Delhi based Centre for China Analysis and Strategy told The Epoch Times over the phone that India shouldn’t forget that every time Xi gives a speech, particularly since the 19th Party Congress in 2017, he mentions the “Chinese dream which includes the rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation.”
She said this agenda has direct implications for India because it involves the recovery of so-called lost territory some of which today is a part of the Indian nation.
Xi said in his Party centenary speech: “The victory of the new democratic revolution put an end to China’s history as a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society, to the state of total disunity that existed in old China, and to all the unequal treaties imposed on our country by foreign powers and all the privileges that imperialist powers enjoyed in China. It created the fundamental social conditions for realizing national rejuvenation.”
Hasija said the Chinese leadership and the party cadres have been repeating their rhetoric about “unequal treaties” again and again, and they are not going to give this up.
“I’m repeating myself that an important component of the China dream is the rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation, which means the recovery of lost territories in the unequal treaties, which include Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, South China Sea, East China Sea, the Diaoyu Islands, and Taiwan,” said Hasija.
Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh are Indian territories that the CCP assertively claims as having been taken from China by “unequal treaties.” At both locations India has experienced repeated Chinese incursions. In Ladakh, the two countries since last year have been engaged in a heavy military standoff that intensified after the bloody conflict at Galwan in June 2020 that killed soldiers on both sides.
In the Indian context “unequal treaties” refer to the Tibet-McMahon line formalized during the Shimla Convention of 1912 between Great Britain that ruled India then, Tibet which was yet to be annexed by China, and China.
Though a draft convention was initiated between the three countries then, China immediately refused to accept it and didn’t sign the revised convention two years later that was signed between the British and Tibet.
After Mao annexed Tibet, China overruled the mandate of the former Tibetan administration about the border with India that had become sovereign by then.
Hasija said Indian policymakers should keep in mind that Xi Jinping is not going to back off from asserting China’s ownership of Indian territory.
“To do so he is instilling deeply in the cadres and common people alike, that they have to continue using the three magic weapons that the CCP has, and what are they?” said Hasija. “United front, armed struggle, and party building.”
Hasija pointed at Xi’s speech where he said: “We will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate us. Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
Hasija said Xi “mentioned about how they [Chinese people] should be ready for war with anyone that bullies China and the days of bullying China are over.”
“See, again, he’s harping on the same narrative. And that is what the Chinese feel. And that is what Xi Jinping and his party have made people believe that time has come. The East is rising, and the West is declining. And by the East rising, he’s not talking about any other country, he’s talking about China.”
Since the Galwan incident last year, India and China have had 11 commander-level meetings where both sides talked about withdrawing militarily from the border but that’s not happening, she said.
“China is building massively when it comes to the border issue. Especially the India-China border, they’re building massively there. Now, there was a report that was published, that there is a buildup of armor at Rudok and Ngari (Ali) prefecture [in Tibet], which actually borders Eastern Ladakh. The report states that at least 448 pieces of armor have been identified in position near Rudok,” said Hasija.
The deterioration of India-China relationships started much before the Galwan incident happened, according to Hasija—it started when China started the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project, a flagship Belt and Road Initiative project that passes through Gilgit-Baltistan, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.
“If you read the Chinese-language materials, media during the Doklam crisis, they have left no stone unturned to humiliate India, write ill about India. They personally attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ajit Doval [India’s current National Security Advisor], Sushma Swaraj [India’s then Foreign Affairs Minister], everyone,” said Hasija.
Doklam refers to a military standoff that happened between the Indian army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in June 2017 over the construction of a road the Chinese were building in Doklam, a tri-junction between India, Bhutan, and China in the central Himalayan region.
“During Doklam again and again they were saying what we did in 1962 [the Sino-Indian War], we do again. Two important things emerge from the Doklam crisis—one the Chinese said they are going to take back the recognition from Sikkim. Second was that they will restart the insurgency movement in the north east of India [that borders China],” said Hasija.
Sikkim is a northeastern Indian state that borders Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal. It joined the Indian union in 1975, much later than Indian independence from the British in 1947.
The action points under the planned “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” also include infrastructure projects in Tibet, which mean the massive deployment of the PLA in the region, according to Hasija.
This has direct repercussions on India’s security, as India shares a long border with China along the Tibetan plateau.
“In the NPC [National People’s Congress] when the 14th five-year plan was passed—that’s another reason for worry for the Indian government because in that plan they have actually kind of included massive infrastructure projects in Tibet. Now any project in Tibet, we all know needs approval from the PLA, and it’s for the PLA’s benefit,” said Hasija.
“Now, all these massive infrastructure projects and events will enable the PLA to rapidly transport troops, military cargo, hardware into Tibet.”
Under its five-year plans, China aims to build dams on the cross-border rivers that originate from Tibet and flow into India and this will “adversely impact” the populations in the downstream regions in India, said Hasija adding that China is building a massive dam on the river Brahmaputra or Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet and at least 17 other dams on its lower reaches.
This is estimated to impact at least one billion people in the lower riparian countries who are dependent on the river and the tributaries feeding it, she said.
“The huge influx of people and the large-scale construction activities in Tibet, including building border airports and 200 border defense villages, will certainly result in warming of temperatures. In turn, this will accelerate the retreat of glaciers and drastically reduce the flow of water in the glacier-fed rivers that irrigate the Indo-Gangetic plain where the majority of India’s population resides,” said Hasija.
Hasija said India and China always had an uneasy relationship and contrary to beliefs that the period prior to 1950 was a “honeymoon” between the two countries, her research shows that it was never so.
“When India got independence our main problem has always been Kashmir and Pakistan. Now India was the first non-communist country to give recognition to the PRC [People’s Republic of China]. There were of course calls at that time in our Parliament that we should wait,” she said.
“According to my analysis Kashmir is a factor that contributed majorly towards Nehru’s [India’s first Prime Minister] policy toward China,” said Hasija adding that the Indian government would have then thought that if they recognize PRC, the Chinese leadership will support India over Kashmir.
“There’s one letter that Nehru wrote to Mohan Singh Mehta [dated] 20 September 1952. Now in this letter, he says that India is only threatened by Pakistan, and he is not in the least worried about China. And he’s been advised that China would be a major support to India’s stance on Kashmir in the coming years,” said Hasija. Mehta was India’s ambassador to Pakistan during that time.
India followed a policy of appeasement towards China after the annexation of Tibet for this reason, according to Hasija.
“And then China’s claim on Formosa Taiwan, of course, India always said during that time that it is an extension of the Chinese Civil War, and we are not bothered if Formosa is a part of China,” said Hasija adding that the same Kashmir factor was behind this stance.
China never supported India. Hasija believes the Indian leadership wasn’t able to understand the Chinese communist leadership, and it’s high time India invests in research for understanding Chinese thought.
“We have hardly invested in China studies, we do not have enough scholarship on understanding and knowing Chinese,” she said adding India can also build new partnerships and strategic alliances to counter the Chinese agenda of “great rejuvenation.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/xi-jinpings-call-for-rejuvenation-means-taking-indian-territory-indian-analyst_3890289.html
MOSCOW—A Taliban delegation in Moscow said on Friday that the group controlled over 85 percent of territory in Afghanistan and reassured Russia it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others.
Foreign forces, including the United States, are withdrawing after almost 20 years of fighting, a move that has emboldened Taliban terrorists to try to gain fresh territory in Afghanistan.
That has prompted hundreds of Afghan security personnel and refugees to flee across the border into neighboring Tajikistan and raised fears in Moscow and other capitals that Islamist extremists could infiltrate Central Asia, a region Russia views as its backyard.
At a news conference in Moscow on Friday, three Taliban officials sought to signal that they did not pose a threat to the wider region however.
The officials said the Taliban would do all it could to prevent ISIS terrorist group operating on Afghan territory and that it would also seek to wipe out drug production.
“We will take all measures so that ISIS will not operate on Afghan territory… and our territory will never be used against our neighbors,” Taliban official Shahabuddin Delawar said through a translator.
The same delegation said a day earlier that the group would not attack the Tajik-Afghan border, the fate of which is in focus in Russia and Central Asia.
Moscow has noted a sharp increase in tensions on the same border, two thirds of which the Taliban currently controls, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s foreign ministry as saying on Friday.
Russia’s foreign ministry called on all sides of the Afghanistan conflict to show restraint and said that Russia and the Moscow-led CSTO military bloc would act decisively to prevent aggression on the border if necessary, RIA reported.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/taliban-says-it-controls-most-of-afghanistan-reassures-russia_3894161.html
The banner was draped between the outstretched arms of the 67-foot Christ of the Ozarks statue in Eureka Springs on Thursday night.
Members of Indecline disguised themselves as a construction crew to sneak onto the property, then used pulleys and other climbing gear to hang the banner.
"In Arkansas, there is only one 65-foot statue of Jesus. There is also only one abortion clinic," Indecline wrote in an Instagram caption explaining the project. "We just think abortion is a go***** miracle worth celebrating. It saves lives, but those lives are usually female."
Originally built in 1966, the Christ of the Ozarks statue weighs 2 million pounds and is made of 24 layers of white mortar, according to The Great Passion Play, which is performed nearby.
This is not the group's first project surrounding abortion. In March, they vandalized a Christian billboard in Missippi to read, "Worried? Planned Parenthood offers abortions," instead of, "Worried? Jesus offers security."
A public information officer for the Eureka Springs Police Department could not be reached Friday.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/god-bless-abortions-banner-christ-ozarks-statue-arkansas-activist-art-group
